Skobov’s case

Ten days before his arrest, the Ministry of Justice adds Skobov to the registry of ‘foreign agents’.

Skobov is detained in Saint Petersburg at the home of human rights defender Yuli Rybakov. In protest, he refuses to take his glasses or his diabetes medication with him.

Skobov is sent to Pretrial Detention Centre No. 1 in the Komi Republic — fifteen hundred kilometres from Saint Petersburg and from his family. He will spend the entire investigation and trial here.

Skobov is taken to the Komi Republic psychiatric hospital for forensic evaluation. He refuses to take part. Three weeks later, he is returned to the pretrial detention centre.

The 1st Western District Military Court in Saint Petersburg opens proceedings. Skobov participates via videolink from Syktyvkar. Hearings are closed to the public.

The court sentences Skobov to 16 years on two counts — ‘justifying terrorism’ and ‘participation in a terrorist organisation’. The first three years to be served in closed prison, the rest in a strict-regime penal colony. In his closing statement: ‘I am the accuser here’.

The Appellate Military Court in Vlasikha (Moscow region) upholds the verdict.

After two months in transit through seven cities, Skobov arrives at T-2 closed prison in Yelets, Lipetsk Region — where he is to serve the first three years of his sentence.

Skobov is repeatedly placed in the punishment isolation cell at Yelets. The grounds are disciplinary; his vision continues to deteriorate.

The Military Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upholds the verdict. Skobov delivers his fifth court speech; the speakers in the courtroom are switched off as he begins to speak.